Well painted original watercolour by the listed artist and illustrator Harold Hope Read (1881 - 1959), painted circa 1935. 

Titled "The Garden Party" on the collector's label, depicting elegant couples in a garden setting.

Unsigned, which is not unusual for this artist, but with strong provenance.

Provenance: The Modern British Gallery. Acquired by the previous collector in December 2020, his label on the backboard.

Watercolour, brown ink and wash on wove paper, in a modern 'Hogarth style' wood frame with conservation mount.

Painting in excellent original condition, with fresh strong colour (see photo), frame and mount in good clean condition (see photos). 

Image 19.5cm x 18.5cm, frame 30.5cm x 29cm.

Comes with our Certificate of Authenticity - guaranteed authentic and original.

Delivered ready to hang.

This is one of several works by the artist I have listed. They all come from a private collector.

Overseas buyers, please check delivery charges to your location through the eBay Global Shipping program.

Harold Hope Read 1881–1959

British figure painter and illustrator.

Born into a Quaker family in Greenwich in 1881, Harold Hope Read studied art and went on to have studios at Bolton Studios, South Kensington and later, in 1910, at College Place, Brighton. In Brighton he had connections with the celebrated artists William Orpen (who also had a studio at College Place) and William Rothenstein, brother-in-law to Orpen's wife and younger brother of Charles Lambert Rutherston, who was Hope Read's friend and patron. It is thought that it was this exposure to wealthy clientele that provided inspiration for Hope Read's High Life series.

Hope Read's patron Charles Lambert Rutherston (whose fortune came from an inherited woollen business) was an important patron of young British artists and a collector, particularly of works by members of the New English Art Club. Rutherston gifted works, including those by Harold Hope Read, to the people of Manchester, now known as the Rutherston Gift at Manchester City Art Gallery. He also donated to the National Gallery, London and the British Museum.

In the 1930s Hope Read moved to Tunbridge Wells in Kent, where he lived an unconventional and bohemian lifestyle with Hilda, his live-in housekeeper, life model and mistress.

He exhibited between 1907 and 1928, including at the New English Art Club, Alpine Gallery, Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, National Society of Painters Sculptors and Gravers, The Pastel Society, National Society of British Artists, Manchester City Art Gallery and at the Royal Academy.

Harold Hope Read had a flair for depicting narrative scenes, with figures engaged in animated interactions and exchanges. He produced a number of paintings and drawings depicting upper class society in a series he titled High Life. His work often has elements of playfulness, humour and satire. He was remarkably skilled in a variety of drawing techniques and media, excelling in combining ink and graphite, charcoal, pastel and washes. He produced many cartoons for publication, including eleven contributed to Punch Magazine between 1905 and 1922. He became known at ‘the Bohemian of Tunbridge Wells’ and his work is now acknowledged as a precursor to that of Ardizonne’s.